I Prayed You Would Bleed
by Laurynn
Summary: Goten and Bra have always loathed each other. When the two are paired together for a class assignment, enraged emotions run high. Is this prolonged encounter enough to bond their severed relationship? Complete
1. Default Chapter

"Casey and Ronald, Marron and James, Cassandra and Jake, Peter and Jessica, Goten and Bra..." Bra's brain heard nothing else. She turned, revolted, and looked into Goten's eyes. He glared at her. She lifted her hand and shot him a very rude gesture. He made a flinch as though to get up, but then looking around, he realized where he was. The teacher was there, as was the class. If he was going to kill her, he might as well do it privately.

"Tough luck." His girlfriend, Amy, told him, putting a soothing hand on his back.

"Just about as tough as it gets. This sucks. I'm going to kill her in the first five minutes."

"I'd give it three. And I'd bet on her." She said smiling, as she threw back her long blonde hair.

"This sucks." He repeated. "We're supposed to get along in this project. I'm going to wring my hands around her neck before we even start." Across the class, Marron whispered in Bra's ear.

"What jerks. They think they're so hot."

"I'd show them hot. All I have to do is pretend I'm sharpening my pencil and whip this out," she said, pulling a lighter from her pocket. "And when the teacher turns his back, I'd-"

"You're such a pyro." Marron told her, eyeing the pencil sharpener next to Amy's desk longingly.

"You know me all to well."

"Now, put that away." She said, guiding Bra's hand back into her pocket and making her drop the lighter. "Don't set anyone on fire until after school hours." She commanded Bra, smiling.

The teacher was rambling on about the assignment. It would last two weeks. Bra skimmed her guideline sheet for the project. They would have to meet at least four times outside of school. She sighed, dropping the sheet onto her desk. She proceeded to prop her elbow on her desk and plunked her face into her hand. Her long blue hair fell over her face. What was she going to do? Across the room, Goten was thinking the same thing about the blue-haired, spike-necklaced abnormality to society he'd been paired with. He despised her very being.

Bra could have said the same, as well as handed you a list of things she loathed about the pretty boy. He was spoiled rotten. His parents had given him a red convertible for his sixteenth birthday but she never dared look at the name or brand of the car in fear that she might be brought under its awesome spell of envy, as well. He was on the football team and was named MVP multiple times and was the backup quarterback. He was very popular and was dating the utmost prep girl, Amy Fischer, who was head of the cheerleading squad. Bra loved pep rallies but she didn't love it for the cheerleading or football. She loved it for the chaos.

Marron had been Bra's best friend since the beginning of high school and knew of no one better to complain to.

"Come on. Even Amy doesn't match her shoes as well as he does." She was continuing on about how lame he was.

"I bet they go shopping together." She said, making a face and bursting out into silent laughter.

"That's pretty sick if you ask me." The bell rang. Goten shot her a look to say that if she left without talking to him about the assignment, he'd kill her quicker than normal. Maybe that was the easy way out. She pondered it before resigning herself to sticking around. She wasn't failing because she got a lame partner. "Crap, now he's gonna come talk to me."

Marron wished her good luck as she gathered up her books. "Meet me at my car okay? I don't want to be around to hear this conversation."

"Me neither." She agreed, following Marron outside and leaned up against the brick building next to the door. Amy and Goten came out with their arms linked.

"Oh look who it is," Amy quipped. "The freak queen."

"Please put on some more make-up. Your pimples are showing." Amy cringed abruptly as if to reach for her mirror but then saw whom she was talking to. She turned to Goten and flashed a smile for him before she french kissed him for an exceedingly long moment. When they broke apart, she talked to him as though he were a child.

"Try not to chat to long. I know she won't understand and that you'll have to use small words for her, but that doesn't change the fact that I have a nail appointment at three and that we have to drive to my house first and pick up David. I'll meet you at your car." She said, taking his keys out of his pocket.

"All right."

"Behave now." She commanded him, as though he were a dog. She walked away down the hallway and it seemed as though he waited to speak until she was out of earshot.

"Listen. I don't want to do this project anymore than you do."

"Got that right." She muttered, folding her bangled arms.

"But were gonna have to suck it up and do it. I'm not failing."

"Well, I'm not failing either." She told him, unfolding her arms and sticking her finger in his face. "And don't think for a second I won't go straight to Mr. Nicholetti and request twice the amount of work if you're not pulling your weight." He pushed her hand out of her face but remained silent. She knew from their past that we wasn't a very good student. In fact, she often wondered how he had even managed to make it to his junior year. He scoffed. He knew that she was a very good student, despite her gothic looks. He broke the silent air suddenly.

"Well, whose house are we meeting at tomorrow, seeing as tomorrow is the first day we're supposed to meet."

"House?" She pulled out her guideline sheet. "It doesn't say anything about meeting at anyone's house!"

"It says outside school," Goten said, reading the paper.

"Well, can't we meet at the library or something? Why do you have to come to my house? Why do I have to go to _your_ _house_?"

"Go to the library and risk being seen in public with you? Fat chance," Goten scoffed.

"So, what if Amy comes by and sees your car in my driveway?" She narrowed her eyes at him fiercely. "You know how she tends to make stories up." Bra said snidely, referring to Amy's role in the school as a haven for rumors, none of which were true.

"Don't bring what you can't get over into this. If it was my choice I'd have picked a different partner in a heartbeat."

"If it was my choice, you'd be six feet under," Bra muttered.

"Fine, meet at my house. I trust you know where it is." He said, sneering at her.

"Down the lane of lies." She said, turning her back on him.

She walked to her locker and then to Marron's car, which she rode in every other day to save Marron gas money. Bra got gas free from Capsule Co. since her grandfather and her mom owned it. They didn't live farther then three streets away from each other anyways. She dumped her books into the back seat and got in.

"What took you?" Asked Marron, peeling out of the parking lot.

"A lot of junk."

"Why, what's up?"

"I have to meet at his house."

"What? Why? That's completely lame!"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Me and James are just going to grab a burger at the arcade tomorrow. By the way, did you tell Trunks about this project? I don't want him to see me all over town with James and get the wrong idea." Trunks was Bra's older brother. He and Marron had been going out for over a year.

"The only wrong idea he'll get is if he sees you making out."

"Oh yeah," She said laughing. "Because I'm so head over heels for James!" James and Marron had always been very close, since they met in middle school. He was one of Bra and Marron's closest friends. And they had never been anything more. The pair were both with other people anyways and James's girlfriend, Beth, was close with both of them.

Marron dropped Bra off at her house.

"Tell Trunks okay?"

"You're not coming in?"

"No, I have to be home."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early."

"I know, that's what scares me most." She yelled at the window as she pulled out and drove away.


	2. Chapter 2

Bra seemed to notice the flaws of the flow of life over the course of the next day. For one thing, when you're trying to avoid something it has a funny way of popping up everywhere.

Pulling the parking lot next to a sporty red convertible, she knew her day wasn't going to be good. She looked out of the windshield of her electric-blue Neon SXT and saw Goten and Amy. This wasn't going to be her day.

"Well, look who it is." Marron sneered.

"Let's just pretend we don't see them." Bra said, reaching into the back for her junk.

"Her fat ass is pretty hard to miss." Bra smiled.

"Come on, let's just get out of here." They rushed past.

"So, did you tell Trunks about the project?"

"Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"He said our teacher is lame for making us do it."

"He's right." Marron told her. "Even though I'm with James, it's still a pretty lame project."

"Goten sucks. And he's going to drag me down with him." She complained.

"To true." Marron said, checking her watch. "We have about twenty-minutes."

"Way to hustle. We never get here early. Let's grab a seat by the cafeteria." Most of Bra and Marron's friends hung out by the cafeteria before school started. Speaking the truth, Marron and Bra were usually late.

"Why were you so early this morning anyway?" Marron asked her as they set off down the hallway.

"Couldn't sleep." Bra didn't think anything of it. Maybe she was so anxious about how the day would be ending up at Goten's house and how she was dreading it that subconsciously her brain would not let her sleep. Bra shook off the feeling that it was directly related to Goten as one of Goten's friends walked in front of them and into the restroom a little way ahead of them. Then they heard a cry for help.

Bra turned swiftly. She knew that voice. It was coming from the boy's restroom. Marron seemed to have heard it too. She had turned to Bra.

"That's Todd."

At once, they both made furious attempts to make it to the restroom and stood in the doorway. Four boys were pummeling Todd. They were all preppy boys. Before they knew what had happened Bra had ran in and punched the closest boy so hard in the nose that he stumbled backwards, hit his head on the sink and went unconscious. The other three boys began to gang up on her. Todd was gasping for breath on the ground, clutching his stomach where it seemed they had punched him repeatedly. His nose was bleeding everywhere and his eyes were both blossoming black. She hadn't realized it before but Marron was next to her, backing her up.

"What has he done to you?" Bra screamed, pointing at Todd. "He didn't do anything to deserve this!"

"Shut up!" The closest boy lunged at her, but she dodged him and he tripped and fell behind her. As she regained her balance, one of the other two boys punched her in the eye. She fell backwards onto the boy behind her trying to get up. He wrapped his arm around her throat. She couldn't breath or see and she did the first thing that came to her head, elbow him in the ribs.

She kept at it until she felt his grip loosen. She sat up, stars winking in her face from the punch, and began to beat the boy behind her until he crawled away and out of the bathroom. She stood up slow, trying to find right side up and she heard Marron yelling at the other two boys. She seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight. They had both ganged up on her, but from what she could see out of her one eye, Todd needed help too. One of the boys had pushed him against the wall and was kicking the snot out of him. He began to spit up blood.

The other boy was chasing Marron around but Marron ran over to Bra and the boy started after hr instead. Marron, meanwhile, ran and tapped the boy on the shoulder who was beating up Todd. He turned around and she punched him as hard as she could in the nose and Bra heard it crack. He fell back. She wouldn't have to worry about him for a bit. Just then, the boy who had crawled away earlier had returned with another boy. Bra kicked the boy who'd been chasing her where it counts as hard as she possibly could and he doubled over in pain. She ran to Todd. His face was contorted in pain. She heard Marron wrestling with the other boys.

"Hey are you okay?" She said touching his face. He winced and she pulled back. The boy who she kicked got up with difficulty and ran out of the bathroom. She paid no attention.

"I need to go to the hospital." He whispered.

"Marron, can you take them alone?" Bra screamed, helping Todd gingerly to his feet.

" Yeah! Go ahead!" She yelled as she pounded the other boy. Bra whipped out her cell phone and hit 911.

"911."

"My friend! He's been beat up!"

"Your call is being traced from the high school."

"I know! How fast can you be here?"

"We're already on our way."

"Okay, I'll meet you in front!" She threw the phone down. Todd seemed to be very weak.

"Please miss, don't hang up." She heard the voice on the phone say from the floor.

She got to front and set Todd down. She had to be ready to get the ambulances attention when they arrived. She heard sirens. She began to jump up and down. They saw her and skidded to a halt and pulled out a stretcher and got Todd on it and whisked him away. A police car behind the ambulance pulled up.

Out stepped Sergeant Davis, a tall tanned man. She breathed out with relief. Sgt. Davis was one of the police officers that had the school in his district. He was a good friend of Marron's mom so he knew Bra, Marron, and Todd pretty well.

"Davis!" She yelled running over to him.

"How did I know you were involved?" He said smiling. She didn't think it was funny. She crossed her arms.

"Don't laugh. They rushed Todd to the hospital." His eyes were suddenly concerned.

"Todd Baker?" She nodded. "What happened?"

"Me and Marron were walking by the bathroom and these four boys were beating the crap out of him. So we ran in and helped them." He sighed.

"Did you hurt them?"

"Hell yes."

"Bra!"

"I'm not going to lie. I will accept the consequences for my actions." She told him angrily. "And so will they."

"Where is Marron?"

"I left her in the bathroom to get Todd out here."

"Show me where it was!" Bra hesitated.

"What are you-"

"The bathroom! Go! Now!" She ran and he was at her heels. She shot into the bathroom where Marron had locked herself in one of the stalls because the two boys had gone insane trying to reach her. Davis surveyed the scene. The first boy Bra had punched was still unconscious by the sink. The boy Marron had punched in the nose was slumped against the wall and his whole lap was drenched in blood. He was moaning and clutching his face. The two boys, seeing Davis, held up their hands.

"We're here Marron. You can come out." Splatters of blood in random places where the boys had beat Todd up. Marron emerged. Her arms were bruised and she was limping a bit but she wasn't hurt too badly.

"Where is Todd?"

"An ambulance rushed him to the hospital." The bell rang. Marron looked at Bra with uncertain eyes. Would they still have to go to class? Wasn't there a way they could go see Todd?

"Davis?" Bra asked uncertainly. "What should we do?"

"Marron, go call the station and call for Sergeant Banks to come over. Then go to the janitor and get him to lock the bathroom. Bra stay here," he told her as she went to go with Marron. "You," he said pointing to the boys who had been chasing Marron, "come with me."


	3. Chapter 3

Sgt. Davis ended up taking all the boys to the police office and questioning them. It seemed someone had specifically told them to beat Todd up. None of them would say a word about who it was. They were all sent to the Alternative Learning Facility, a juvenile correctional center. They were not allowed to return to the public school until they had served there for two months.

Of course, Bra and Marron were let off the hook thanks to Davis and their true intentions of saving their friend.

That afternoon they went to see Todd. Walking in the gleaming hospital made Bra nervous. She was holding Marron's hand tightly. They got his room number at the front desk and ascended in the elevator, both anxiously shifting their weight. As the doors slid open, Bra felt Marron squeezing her hand for the first time. Her whole body had been numb since they'd walked in the doors. She swallowed hard as Marron guided her. She was afraid to see Todd. How would he be? She couldn't bear it if something awful had happened. It would be all her fault. If she had only gotten there seconds earlier to stop those boys...

Marron stopped.

"This is it." Bra's hand was shaking and Marron tried to hold it steady. Marron used her free hand to push open the door. The room was a taupe color, soothing if anything and balloons and get-well cards adorned the walls.

Todd was lying there staring at the ceiling. He smiled as they walked in. Bra looked into his eyes. They gave off a warm feeling. Her hand stopped shaking for a few seconds. She looked at his face. Both of his eyes were black and he had cotton up his nose. His arms were bruised and he had wires attached to his arms and chest leading to the machine next to his bed.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Marron asked.

"No." His voice was fragile as if in one second he could be lost. "You saved my life."

"Doesn't look it." Bra said, the guilt in her face showing.

"You did so much for me. I can't thank you enough."

They visited with Todd for over an hour. It seemed that in a few months he would be fine. The worst damage was that he had two broken ribs and that one of his back teeth fell out. He would have to be in the hospital for another week or so before they would let him go and they still wouldn't let him do the same things. He had to take it easy for a few months before he did anything, especially skateboarding.

Bra was lying on the bed next to him talking. He was running his bandaged fingers through her hair. Marron had gone down to the hospital's cafeteria to get something to eat.

"How is your mom doing?"

"She's fine. She came to see me as soon as she heard. She spent most of the morning with me. But you know she doesn't make a lot of...income and she needed to get back to work. I expect the bill for the hospital will be expensive." Bra knew well enough. She had known Todd since kindergarten and whenever they were in a tight spot, Bra was always there for Todd and vice versa. They were very close.

"You should sue those boys and make them pay for it." She knew he would say no.

"No. They need to be treated as God would treat them. They need to be forgiven." She smiled. Todd was such a kind person. She really didn't know why anyone would beat him up. He was very quiet but funny in his own unique way. He had a lot of friends and he was very down to earth. He was good at school and he worked after hours to help keep his family going. She loved Todd's pure heart. It made her happy to know he would be just fine in a few months.

"And how is Tara?" She asked. Tara was Todd's younger sister. She was only eight but she loved Bra.

"Oh, good. She always asks for you. She always wants to know when you're coming over. She misses you a lot." Bra used to babysit Tara after school before she was in kindergarten, when Todd's mom couldn't afford daycare.

"Well, tell her I miss her. I'll probably be over a lot more in the near future. And I'm definitely not letting you skateboard to school in this condition." He only lived about a mile from the school and he skateboarded every morning because the bus didn't pick up kids who lived close to the school. Their family only owned one car and his mom drove it to work before him and Tara were awake. Tara's elementary school was a block from their house, so he walked her and then boarded the rest of the way.

He smiled.

"You do too much." He told her.

"I don't do enough."

"You're not missing anything are you? By being here with me?" He asked.

"I don't care. I would stay by your side through anything"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Ummm… let me think...Tonight...I was supposed to-" It hit her like a ton of bricks. "I'm supposed to be at Goten's house!"

"What?" His eyes were disbelieving. "Goten Son?"

"We have a project to do together." She said rolling her eyes.

"What time? You need to get all As this year."

"I can skip. You mean more to me than any A."

"This is your senior year! You can't goof off! Get out of here. Go do your project."

"Todd, didn't I just get done saying..." His eyes were warning her.

"Go. Please. You've always been there for me. And now I need to be here for you."

"But I-"

"Marron can keep me company. I'll be fine." In all honesty, she didn't want to go but she resigned herself to the fast that she did want an A. She sat up and kissed him on the forehead.

"Don't you die on me." She told him sternly as she grabbed her purse.

"I promise I won't."

"That's a promise Todd! You can't go back on your word!" She said as she walked out the door.

"I won't." He yelled back as the door shut behind her.

She walked back out onto the landing into Marron who had a tray in her hands piled with food from the cafeteria. It was all junk food.

"What's all that?"

"It's what they don't serve to the patients. This is for people visiting the hospital who can't stand Jell-o." Bra laughed.

"I'm outta here."

"Where are you going?" Marron asked, taking a potato chip from the pile.

"Goten's house," Bra mumbled.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Have a great time," she said grinning and walking into Todd's room.

"Yeah right."


	4. Chapter 4

Feeling apprehensive about leaving Todd, she kept glancing over her shoulder as she left the hospital, like she was expecting some random nurse to come running after her to alert her that Todd needed her back. Getting into her car, she peeled out of the lot, dreading the passing moments.

It didn't take her long before she was turning onto Goten's street and into his driveway, next to a large, shining SUV. She felt inferior and grabbed her bag quickly, getting out of the vehicle's shadow, as though it might overpower her if she stayed there long enough. She walked the quaint pebbled footpath to his front door with a wreath of pure ivory jasmine flowers and rang the doorbell. She heard shrieks coming from inside.

A small girl answered the door, calling "Goten?" loudly. Bra surveyed the child. She wore a patterned red banana over her raven-black hair in little pigtails. When she saw Bra, she called "It's not Goten!" into the depths of the house.

There were footsteps and a woman came out. She had black hair like the girl, as though the child had inherited it from her, but the woman's hair was flecked with gray. She had a cheerful face and she was wiping her hands on the navy-blue apron around her waist.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely. The little girl disappeared behind her leg.

"Yes, I'm looking for Goten." Bra told the woman. She expected the woman to scoff and say her perfect son had no friends that dyed their hair and poked holes in their shirtsleeves, but quite to the contrary, she was warm and friendly, as though freaks appearing on her doorstep was a usual occurrence.

"He told me his friend would be stopping by. I'm Goten's mom." She told her, sticking out a hand for her to shake, which Bra did. "He went out but he'll be back soon. Won't you come in?" She asked motioning towards the house. The little girl ran off into the kitchen, her little steps pitter-pattering on the wood floor. Bra walked inside. It was homey and warm since the majority of the house seemed to be made from wood. In the entry hall, there were pictures of Goten and another boy who was older, assumingly Goten's brother, a young woman with the assumed brother and the young girl who had answered the door. Goten's mother followed her gaze and said the names of the occupants of the pictures.

"This is Goten and his older brother, Gohan. This is Gohan and his wife, Videl." She said pointing to the picture of the couple and then the next with the girl. "And their daughter Pan."

"You have a lovely family." Bra told her, still looking from picture to picture. They were all of the same people: Goten and his parents and brother, his sister-in-law and niece. She followed the pictures, as they got earlier and earlier, to Pan's baby years, Gohan and Videl's wedding, Gohan's graduation; all the way back his parents wedding.

"Thank you," she said happily. "Please make yourself at home." But Goten's mom was walking into the house now and she followed, not wanting to be left alone and awkward. They walked through the kitchen to a wooden table where Goten's niece was coloring. She beckoned Bra over to color with her. She was very excited the Bra had the capability to stay within the lines. Pan began to like Bra very much.

Fifteen minutes or so had passed when they heard the door open and shut. Pan jumped up and ran into the front hall.

"Goten!" She squealed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," laughed Goten's voice from the kitchen. He sounded so different, not the way she usually heard him, but happy and kind.

"Come meet my new friend!" Pan said, dragging Goten into the kitchen to meet Bra. He had three or four grocery bags on his wrist and he was laughing with Pan until he caught sight of her and looked shocked that someone like her had actually dared enter his house.

"What are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be here until-"he had glanced at the clock. "Ten minutes...ago." She tried not to look surprised that he'd forgotten.

They persuaded Pan to go help her grandmother back cookies while they worked. It was slow. The first day they had been assigned to brainstorm for their project, which was certainly the easiest part. Goten didn't want to use any ideas of his own and kept picking Bra's, but Bra quite liked his instead. They just needed to fine-tune them a little. They kept arguing back and forth about it until he finally said, "Oh this is stupid. I don't care."

So they were full steam ahead on his idea for the project. Pan had come in and was coloring in the table next to Bra, showing her periodically the achievement she had made in coloring the different areas. Bra pretended to pay attention to Goten rambling on, but she was staring at the tip of Pan's purple crayons, stroking the paper back and forth...back and forth...back and forth... They had just finished checking off the items on the guide sheet when the front door slammed. Bra snapped out of her trace and tore her eyes from the crayon's trail. Goten didn't look up from stuffing his things in his backpack.

"Hello?" They heard a voice say. Pan's ears pricked.

"Daddy!" She yelled, sliding off her chair and running out of view, to the front room

"Hey sweetie. Oh - wow - you're getting heavy." He said, lifting her up and walking in. Bra saw Goten's brother for the first time. Lean and muscular, Bra couldn't help but see that he was the tall dark and handsome one of the family. He said hello to Goten and looked over at Bra as though she didn't belong. He, like his mother, stuck out his hand with no difficulty even though he was holding Pan with one arm.

"I'm Bra."

"I'm Gohan. I'm _his_ older brother." He said, laughing, and ruffling Goten's hair with his hand. Their mother came out.

"Hello." She said, kissing his cheek. "How is Videl feeling?"

"Better. She's going to the doctor tomorrow morning before work-"

"She's going to work?" Goten asked, surprised.

"Videl? She wouldn't miss a day of work we all dropped dead tomorrow." Her mind began to wander away from the conversation. He could still hear the words, talking of hospitals and doctors...She thought of Todd. She wanted to be with him.

"Bra?"

"Huh?" She jerked back to the present.

"We're done," Goten said rather harshly.

"Oh...right." She gathered up her things. Gohan had put Pan down, talking to his mother. Pan ran over to her.

"I want you to baby-sit me." She told Bra. Everyone in the room stopped talking and stared at her. Bra stopped moving in their accusatory stares.

"What did she just say?" They all asked at the same time. Bra didn't know who to answer to since they were all staring at her.

"Uhhh..."

"I said I want Bra to be my baby-sitter!" Pan repeated happily, putting her hands up indicating she wanted Bra to pick her up. Goten was positively glaring at her from his standpoint behind his mother and brother. His mother seemed to be trying to comprehend the fact that her granddaughter wanted to be baby-sat by someone the complete opposite of her son. Gohan was trying to comprehend that Pan wanted to be baby-sat at all. This revelation of Pan's had rendered him speechless. We he came to his senses, he burst out, "When can you start?" Pan was dancing around, longing to be picked up but Bra was petrified that Goten's eyes would soon be capable of murder.

"Well, it's alright with me." Said their mother happily but catching the look on Goten's face, she added, "But maybe you should check and see if Videl is okay with this." Pan sat down at Bra's feet, tired of waiting for her to pick Pan up.

"You're right." Gohan said, feeling Goten's evil eye on his back. "I'll ask her. How about you come on over...oh let's say tomorrow night? You busy?" She knew that if she accepted to baby-sit, Goten and her would probably see a lot more of each other than entirely necessary.

"Well, uhh, I uh-"

"No, she's got practice," said Goten for her, his voice trembling with rage. She sucked in the air surrounding her very suddenly as his eyes flashed furiously.

"Oh? Practice for what?" Said his mother, now very interested to learn more about her. But Bra didn't know what she had practice for because Goten had just made it up. She wasn't on any teams and she certainly wasn't part of any organizations, as far as _she_ knew...

"Uhhh...actually I'm skipping practice tomorrow." She told them, matter of factly. "My friend is in the hospital and I'm visiting him tomorrow night." She said, throwing in a hint of truth. She would honestly be at the hospital the next day, at Todd's side as much as she possibly could be. But before his mother could repeat her question upon what it was exactly she practiced for, Gohan pressed on about her coming over to meet Pan's mother.

"What about the next night?"

"I have a study session with Goten." She said quickly, pointing at him with a bangled arm, which felt good even if she wasn't blaming him for anything.

"Great! So after that, you can just come over with Goten. Videl will be thrilled." Gohan said quickly, as if she would try to back out if she hadn't agreed quickly enough.

"Sure." She said reluctantly, still noticing Goten's angry eyes. There was a long awkward silence. "Well, I better be going." She told them, stepping towards the door.

They saw her to the door and she began down the driveway. She could hear Goten shouting the second the door closed behind her. She walked faster down the driveway, tears forming in her eyes. She got in the car and drove off as fast as she could, tears spilling out. She pulled over to the side of the road, into some shopping mall parking lot and cried her eyes out on the steering wheel. She had no idea why she was crying...maybe for Todd, that she couldn't be there for him, that she'd chosen some stupid project to do over spending time with him while he was in the hospital...or maybe Goten's eyes gleaming out from the dark, telling her without words to stay away from his family...

"Stop crying Bra!" She shouted at herself, trying to wipe the tears away. "You knew Goten Son would hate you no matter what!"

She shook herself a little and decided to go for a long drive. They always helped her clear her head.

Four hours later…

_Brrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrring!_

She grabbed the cell phone off the passenger's seat.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" She heard her brother, Trunks's, voice ask. She looked around.

"I'm in my car."

"That's not what I- Bra!"

"I'm on Route 14."

"What're you doing out there?"

"Just driving…"

"Oh okay. Mom just freaked out because she didn't know where you were. It's ten till midnight. Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'll turn around. Tell her I'll be home before one."

"Okay," then he hung up.

She raked her fingers through her hair and kept driving. Her mom never stayed up past one. She would be safe coming home later than that.


	5. Chapter 5

Her alarm clock woke her up to a faceful of hair.

"Uhhh!" She spat the hair out of her mouth and sat up. She was still dressed in her clothes from yesterday since she had dropped into bed without bothering to change. She changed her clothes, pulled on her blank beanie, hopped in her car and picked up Marron, who was disgruntled from having a fight with her mom that morning. She kept shouting as though it was Bra she was in a fight with. Bra knew better than to say anything comforting or at that, say anything at all, so she just pulled her beanie over her ears to muffle the sound. She waited until they were out of the car to say anything about Todd. She knew Marron would never go to school flustered. She always made herself be calm before going somewhere else or taking her anger out on someone who didn't deserve it, except Bra. She always vented on Bra.

"So how long did you stay with Todd last night?" Bra asked, getting out of the car.

"About an hour after you left." She said, breathing deeply.

"Anything important I should know?" She asked, as they walked through the school's front gate toward the cafeteria, as always. Marron didn't say anything.

"Marron, is there anything I should know?" She repeated, looking at Marron who appeared not to have heard her.

"I'll catch you later, okay? I have to talk to my homeroom teacher." She told Bra and started to walk off.

"Come on, don't pull that shit with me!" She told Marron from behind.

"What?" She said, turning around sharply.

"There is something I should know! What aren't you telling me?"

"He didn't say anything important! I'm not hiding anything and what's with _you_?" Marron shouted back.

"Then since when do _you_ care about your homeroom grade?" Marron flushed.

"I've always cared!" Marron said indignantly.

"About personal fitness? Don't make me laugh - you hate that class. You hate the fact they make you take a sport and you hate it even more that they make you dress out every single day first period so don't pull _that shit_ with me." And Bra turned on her heel and marched away.

She walked to her own homeroom and slouched in her chair. Her friend Beth joined her shortly after the bell rang.

"Hey Bra, how's Todd?" She came in and asked.

"He'll be fine." She said, not wanting to go into detail about his injuries since it would only make her feel worse.

"I was trying to call you all afternoon yesterday. Where were you?" Bra tried to avoid the subject of Goten. She didn't feel much like talking about him either.

"I was...out." She said mysteriously.

"Ohhh, with who?"

"Uhhh…no, I meant, I was just…you driving around. Trying to clear my head. I just had a bad day yesterday, that's all."

"Oh? Better today though?"

"Yeah. Sure," she said halfheartedly, thinking that today was worse.

"Cool. So have you started your project yet?" Beth asked, as the late bell rang.

"Yeah I started on it yesterday."

"James and I were working on ours yesterday together even though we're not partners. It is a really stupid project. Who's your partner?"

"Goten," Bra mumbled.

"Oh yeah – how was that?" She asked lowering her voice.

"The reason for my bad day," she whispered back as the teacher stood up to start class.

After school, Marron took off without speaking to Bra, presumably still mad about their fight. She called Trunks to pick her up. She spent the rest of the day dreading the interview Pan's mother was going to give her the following afternoon.


	6. Chapter 6

Bra woke up the next morning with painful headache over her left eye. Remembering why she felt so lousy, she got dressed and went down for breakfast. Her mother had already left for work but Trunks wasn't around either although he didn't work on Thursdays.

She ate quickly, feeling miserable on top of her headache, and drove to Marron's, like usual but when she got there she was quickly more annoyed then ever – Marron had taken her own car to school, even though it was Bra's day to drive. Feeling slightly pissed off, she almost skipped school completely but decided she should at least show up for homeroom. After homeroom, it was far easier to skip than not showing up at all. If you missed homeroom, you got a phone call home and Bra knew that after staying out later than she should have the night before, her mother was less likely to forgive her.

After three unbearable periods and her headache showing no signs of relenting, Bra slipped out in the hustle of the class change. The slamming lockers around her did not help.

Safe outside the schools perimeter, she headed to the hospital, where she hung out with Todd all day against his constant nagging about her skipping.

"Oh be quiet," she finally told him. "I'm caught up on all of my work. I'm actually going over to Goten's again tonight."

"How did the first meeting go? I mean, you guys didn't kill each other so that's a good sign."

"Yeah and then his brother asked me to babysit for his niece. Goten about had a heart attack."

"What? I didn't know Goten had a niece," Todd said, shocked at this. "It's weird thinking of him as normal when he acts like he's way better than everyone else."

"Yeah, his family is actually really nice. He's the one with the bad attitude.""

"I wonder if he's like that with his girlfriend. Maybe she's got bad attitude that rubs off on him," Todd suggested.

"Don't try and let her take the blame for him. He's an ass and he always has been."

"Oh yeah? What about middle school? Wasn't such an ass then was he?" Bra flushed. Goten and her had been very close in their sixth and seventh grade years. In their eighth grade year, Goten had completely stopped hanging out with her and started dating like a party boy.

"He was different then but he was still an ass," Bra said thinking back.

"You two were inseparable before...so you're going back over there tonight? How is the project coming? I mean, besides that you don't get along." Todd mumbled quickly.

"Goten is smarter than I thought he was. I mean, he had some great ideas. We're actually using one of his. I didn't think he would be able to pull his share but he's doing a good job," she admitted.

"Well, it's good that you're getting along. I was thinking this whole thing might turn out quite bad."

"Nope, just annoying as hell," she said smiling. Todd did not smile back.

"Hey listen," he said suddenly. "Marron and I were talking yesterday after you left and…well, we were wondering if you might ask Goten…well, if he knows anything about the guys who beat me up."

Bra looked up. Todd was very serious. This must have been what Marron was so touchy about – she didn't want to be the one to ask.

"Did you ask Marron not to say anything?" Todd looked away.

"Yeah, I did. How did you know?"

"She kind of exploded at me yesterday. I thought maybe it was because her and her mom had a fight but it was more than that. I thought something was up. She's been avoiding me."

"Are you serious?" Todd looked stricken. "I didn't mean to mess the two of you up! I was just going to ask you in my own time. I wasn't even sure I was going to. I'm sorry."

"Don't be! It's just that Marron is-"

"Really bad at keeping secrets," they said together.

"Yeah well listen," Bra said, somewhat ashamed of what she was about to say. "I hate Goten as much as anyone, you know that but you're right; I did know him well when we were young and I'll tell you right now, Goten would never hire people to hurt you. He doesn't get off hurting other people." Todd raised his eyebrows. "Physically, I mean. He might be a showoff and a jerk but if he wanted to beat you up, he would have just done it himself. He's really strong."

"Really strong? He's on the football team, so what?" She wanted to tell Todd but she knew she couldn't. She wanted to say yeah, super Saiyan strong.

"No, I mean like World Tournament Junior Champion strong."

"Goten? No way."

"I'm serious."

"How do you know? If he was in the World Tournament then he would've been older than when you knew him."

"Well, he and Trunks used to train together. A long time ago, even before we were friends. Trunks was always stronger but he's also older. The three years Trunks was in the senior division Goten won the title."

"Wow, I had no idea."

"Yeah, so I know it wasn't him."

"Well, if you're certain, I believe you." Bra was certain but someone was still responsible for putting her friend in the hospital.

"I'll find out who did this. I promise."


	7. Chapter 7

Driving over to Goten's, Bra was worried. She'd be meeting Pan's mother and working on the project but also asking Goten if he knew anything.

"But he won't," she told herself. "He won't know anything about that."

She pulled up into the driveway. There were three other cars there. This worried her. She got out to find that she was trembling. It was like walking into the enemy's lair and taking care of their relatives. She was regretting her decision after all.

She got to the door and knocked. Goten's mother answered it quickly.

"Hello Bra. Come on in."

"Thanks. How are you?"

"I'm wonderful. How are you? How is your friend in the hospital?"

"I'm good. He's doing good too," she said, walking into the house. "The doctor said he'll be out in a few days. He has a few broken ribs they're treating so he might need to wear a brace."

"Well a few days, that's good news!" She said, leading Bra into the kitchen where Gohan, Goten, Pan and a pretty black-haired woman was standing.

"Hey Bra," said Gohan, smiling.

"Bra!" Pan said happily, running over to hug her leg.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," the woman said to Gohan "She really does like her! Hi, I'm Videl. I've been looking for a babysitter for a while now but we haven't been able to find anyone Pan gets along with. I'd like to get to know you a little first if that's alright," she said, looking Bra up and down.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Wouldn't want to leave your kid with a psycho." Videl stared at her. Goten's mother started to say something but Videl cut her off.

"Oh Chichi give it a rest. Remember the first time you met me? You hated me and now look at us, a happy family. Give her a chance."

"I remember that!" Gohan said laughing. "You called her a hussy!"

"Oh yeah," said Goten from the corner where he'd been sulking about Bra's presence. "I remember that too. Videl was really pushy because mom said Gohan was too young to settle down."

"No no no, I didn't say that! I said I didn't want him to hang out with Videl because Gohan was training for the tournament, remember?"

"Oh yeah, the tournament!" Said Videl remembering. "That was a lot of fun."

"Oh yeah," Gohan said crossly. "Lots of fun when evil wizards are plotting to destroy Earth!"

At this pronouncement, everyone in the kitchen looked at Bra, who didn't know what to say exactly so she blurted out, "Yeah, you've got to watch out for those evil wizards." And then feeling very awkward, she said, "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Of course," Chichi said, looking uncomfortable. "Goten, show her to the bathroom."

"Mom!" Goten protested, the color rising in his face.

"Do it," she commanded. He skulked down the hallway, obviously pissed. As she made her way after him, her eyes were on her shoes until he suddenly turned around and pinned her to the wall.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Trying to get back at me through my family."

"Man, your brain is really messed up. I don't know what kind of person you think I am but I would _never _hurt your family to get back at you. Treachery is your thing, remember?" Then she pushed him off and disappeared into the bathroom. She quickly washed her face, trying to make herself more alert.

When she came out, Goten was still standing there. He led the way down the hallway and she suddenly made up her mind.

"Goten?"

"What?" He turned and asked through gritted teeth.

"Did you…do you know…do you know who the guys were that beat Todd up?" Goten's face softened.

"I know them, yeah. What of it?"

"Well…I just wanted to know if maybe…you…knew who asked them to do it."

"No, I don't."

"Oh well, yeah, of course you wouldn't." And then, before she could stop herself she blurted out, "What happened to your dad?"

"He died. When I was young."

"But those pictures…you are older in some of those pictures with him."

"Sometimes he's allowed to come back to visit. I've only met him twice. Once at the tournament and at Gohan's wedding."

"Allowed to visit?" Goten sighed and began to explain, looking agitated.

"Look, you're one of the only other families like ours, okay? You're half-Saiyan too so don't play like you don't what I'm talking about. He's dead and he can visit and you know what I'm talking about."

"Well if you knew about me being half-Saiyan why is your family acting all weird. I was too young to remember that tournament anyway."

"Because they don't know you're half Saiyan," he mumbled.

"What?" Bra cried. "You didn't tell them who I was?"

Goten shuffled his feet. "No." The truth was Bulma and Chichi had rarely talked over the years, starting with the aftermath of Majiin Buu. Their lives had taken several different paths. Now, Chichi was consumed with taking care of her sons and granddaughter, while Bulma was single-handedly running Capsule Corp and dealing with two practically grown children. Chichi knew Bulma had a daughter but didn't know that Bra was that daughter. On the other hand, Bulma probably couldn't have identified Pan from Adam.

Bra marched back into the kitchen as the chatter died.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt but I have something to tell you all. I'm a half-Saiyan. I understand about the World Tournament and flying and about being super Saiyan. I can take care of Pan," she said, exhaling. "I know that's what you're worried about, someone taking care of her that isn't strong enough but I can handle it. She'll only be a quarter Saiyan."

They all stared at her until Chichi cleared her throat.

"Who is your father?" Gohan asked finally.

"Vegeta."

"You're Bulma's daughter?" Chichi asked but Bra laughed.

"You didn't think I got this color hair from just anyone, did you?" After that, they were considerably warmer towards her.

"That's very true," said Videl, looking at her with new eyes. "And she does resemble her."

"How's Trunks?" Gohan asked, smiling. "I haven't seen him since he was young."

"He's great. He's dating Krillin's daughter, Marron." They were all gossip after this. Chichi was raving about a reunion at Kami's floating palace and missing everyone so much. She said she felt slightly ashamed for not recognizing Bra. Gohan and Videl agreed that Bra would make an excellent babysitter and that they were totally in for any kind of reunion Chichi might throw.

"Maybe we could get Goku to come!" She said excitedly. He hasn't been back in seven years or so. I'm sure he's due for a visit. Oh no!" She said suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked concerned.

"I'd better start cooking now! You know your father's appetite!" They all laughed.

During all this fuss over Bra, Goten slipped quietly from the room. Bra was the only one who noticed.


	8. Chapter 8

After confessions to the Son family, Bra was scheduled to babysit that next afternoon. She had to admit, it was exciting to be with people who could talk freely around her about supernatural events and aliens.

"Is Trunks still training?" Gohan asked the next afternoon after Bra had come to pick up Pan.

"Oh yeah! He's always complaining about not having a sparring partner. I'm no match for him. I can't even go super."

"Yet," Gohan corrected.

"What?"

"You can't go super yet."

"What do you mean? There's no way _I_ could ever get to that level. Trunks has been training for years!"

"You have the same blood as he does. You're half Saiyan like Trunks and I, which means you could _technically_ do it, with practice of course," he added.

"Even if I could do it, Trunks would still kick my ass. He was much younger than I was when he first went super."

"But he wasn't the youngest or the oldest. It took our dads well into their thirties to become super Saiyans. And Goten did it at six. You're smack in the middle of that age range which means you still have the opportunity to do it." But Bra wasn't listening.

"Goten was _six_?"

"Yeah, crazy isn't it? It's really ironic. I had just finished telling him it would take years of practice to achieve that level and he laughed and he just, boom, did it. I almost fell over."

"Wow."

"Well, you have to consider who our father was one of the strongest men on the planet and also that Goten was raised fighting, with our mother, with me, and with Trunks. He had a big head start. I didn't even start _training_ until I was six."

"Still, six years old and already legendary."

"Yeah, your dad was really pissed when he found out Trunks could do it so young. He'd been training years to do it. By the way, how is your dad?" Bra looked away.

"He…uh…he doesn't come around much…you know?"

"He never was a family man, was he?" Gohan said, looking down.

"Not really." Bra was feeling embarrassed but was saved by Chichi and Pan coming in the door.

"Bra!" She wailed and attached herself to her leg.

"What about me?" Gohan asked, laughing.

"Oh hi daddy!"

"Hello sweetheart," Chichi said kissing Gohan. "Hello dear," she said to Bra.

"Hello. How are you?"

"Very good very good. So what are you and Pan going to do today?"

"Pan wants to go to the park. I figured we go there for a while and then I'd take her home. Does that sound good for my first time?"

"Awesome. All right, I'd better be going. I've got a lot of work to do." He swooped down and kissed Pan on the head and left.

Bra took Pan to the park, as promised, and then drove Pan home as Gohan had given her the key. She fed Pan dinner, they watched a movie and then she put pan to bed and waited for Videl to come home.

Videl was nervous asking if there were any problems but was delighted when Bra told her there were none. She paid Bra and she left.

_Finally_, she thought, _tomorrow is Saturday. Nothing to do, no one to- Shit! _She'd forgotten! Goten was coming over for another project meeting!


	9. Chapter 9

The next afternoon, Bra got home from school and cleaned up the house. She didn't want Goten and her to have to work in a mess. Her mom wasn't home yet so her and Trunks made dinner and ate together. Afterwards, they cleaned up.

Bra was washing the dishes from dinner while Trunks was drying them. Their mother had gone to dinner with Marron's mom. The doorbell rang.

"Will you get it?" Bra asked, holding up her soapy hands. "It's probably Goten."

"Goten? What on earth?" He asked, turning to look at her.

"We have a project for school," she said resignedly.

"Wow, I haven't seen him in years. Not since that fight we had at the tournament when dad left."

"Well, go answer the door and you can reminisce about it all you want," said Bra darkly, plunging her hands back into the water.

He made a face as he put the dish he was holding away and threw the dishtowel over his shoulder as he went for the door.

Bra sighed, not looking forward to this at all. She could hear the footsteps echoing off the tile floor in the hallway as Trunks opened the door to allow someone entrance. She could hear Trunks' voice say something, something sharp and then Goten's voice reply just as sharply. They emerged looking as though they had a nice conversation, but Bra seriously doubted they had. Trunks grabbed his keys off the counter while Goten stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. He looked as if he might be contaminated by anything he touched.

"Where are you going?" Bra asked, putting a plate into the strainer.

"Me and Marron were gonna check out the block party downtown."

"She didn't tell me about it," Bra said frowning.

"I only heard about it a few minutes ago. Plus, she said she wasn't supposed to tell you something. And we all know had bad she is as keeping secrets."

"Well, tell her I figured it out. She can stop avoiding me anytime now. And ask her how Todd is, will you?" Bra shouted as he walked through the door.

"Will do," he said slamming the door.

After Trunks was gone, Bra took as long as she possibly could to finish the dishes to avoid the work she would soon have to start. She still had a lot of dishes to do so she left them in the sink and went to sit across from Goten who had tried to make himself at home on the sofa.

"Let's get started." He suggested. They sat and worked for an hour straight before they took even one break.

"Can we stop for a bit?" He complained "My head is aching." She shrugged.

"Sure. I think that will be acceptable until we _have_ to meet again." He leaned back in his chair but she got up and tended to the dishes again. She knew her mother would be angry if she didn't finish even if she had a guest over. He came over and stood against the counter opposite her.

"So what do you think of Pan?" She looked up. She had guessed this would come. He was going to try to get her to quit.

"She was wonderful." He blinked.

"She was?"

"She behaved like an angel when I babysat her. All she wanted to do was play and when I told her to go to bed, she did. I mean, she didn't fuss or fight or anything she just did exactly what I said."

"I guess she really _does_ like you."

"What's the supposed to mean?"

"Oh I don't know. It was just a coincidence that she even met you and she falls in love with you." And after a while he added, "She really is a sweetheart." Bra said nothing. He was watching her. She had taken the hose out of the sink and was spraying down a dish.

"You missed a spot." He laughed, and without even thinking, Bra sprayed him with the hose. Her happy face turned to shock.

"Oh my God!" She said, holding down her laughter at him. He was dripping wet, his face reddening with anger. "I'm so sorry!" But she burst into laughter and so Goten ignored it as he grabbed a glass from the dish drainer, filled it up with water and dumped it on her head. She gasped.

"Oh hell no." She had the hose and he had a glass full of water and soon it had become an all out war in which both of them couldn't get any wetter. Finally, she gave in.

"Okay, okay! You win, I'm soaking wet and this kitchen is a mess!" But he came around the counter, around which they had been running, with full intentions to continue their game. She tried to get past him, but he cut her off any way she would go so she ran. He blocked her and she ran into him. He looked down and her as she looked up. Their lips were barely an inch apart. She could feel his hot breath on her lips. She closed her eyes, breathing into him. She didn't move. She felt him kiss her. Her eyes were closed. No one was watching. Trunks wouldn't be back for hours and her mom had been known to stay out all night.

She kissed him back. His hand brushed against her cheek and she was losing her grip on reality as he strayed from her lips and down the right side of her neck, his breath warm on her skin. This felt so right. Goten. Goten? Goten! Goten was wrong. It felt right but it was Goten, her enemy, the person she hated most in the world.

His lips kissed her again but she jerked away from him, still breathing hard. Her mind had won the battle against her heart.

"You should go." She swallowed hard, not daring to look back at him. She heard his movements gathering up his things and the door slam behind him. She fell to her knees on the wet kitchen floor, her jeans spreading with moisture.

"What have I done?" She asked herself, closing her eyes as her fingers caressed her lips.


	10. Chapter 10

It was early Monday morning in the hospital. Todd was sitting up eating his breakfast and thinking, _only one more day in here_, when he had a quite unexpected visitor.

"Knock knock."

"Goten?"

"Hey Todd, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better thanks. I don't mean to be rude but… what are you doing here?"

"Look, I wanted to ask you something," he said coming in and sitting down on an old padded chair.

"Well, you couldn't've just called?" Todd said, looking uncomfortable.

"No, I wanted to ask you in person."

"Okay well, shoot."

"I know we haven't really ever been friends but you really think I'd set up guys to beat you up?"

"Bra told you?" Todd asked, his voice lowering in shame.

"I guessed. Bra had nothing to do with it."

"Well, I couldn't think of anyone else Bra hates as much. I didn't think I had any enemies and I couldn't think of anyone else that hates who I hang around with."

"Oh…well I wouldn't do that."

"I know that now." Todd said, embarrassed.

"What?"

"Bra wouldn't hear a word against you."

"She-she wouldn't?"

"No, she told me that you're strong enough to beat me up by yourself. I had no idea you won the title three times. I don't really keep up with those fights. Hercule wins every year."

"Yeah, he does, doesn't he? He's kind of annoying."

"You know him?" Todd asked, looking alarmed.

"Uh, he's my sister-in-law's dad."

"What?" He looked astonished.

"Yeah. So, I know him pretty well. Those tournaments are rigged every year."

"What? Then why do you compete?"

"I competed in the Junior division." Goten corrected him. "Hercule always wins Senior. He pays people off more than the prize money to let him win."

"And you never said anything?"

"Most of the insiders who know about it don't compete anymore. Like Trunks. Plus, the people there like a show and Hercule gives them what they want. If he lost, all of his sponsors would stop backing him. It's not like he doesn't have the money to pay off whoever he wants."

"I know but that doesn't make it right," Todd said disapprovingly.

"I never said it was right. I stopped competing when I was too old for Junior but that's beside the point. I came here to tell you that I have no idea who told those punks to hurt you."

"Why did you come all the way down here?" Goten looked up surprised.

"Because I wanted you to believe me."

"And you didn't think I would?"

"No, I didn't. I'm sure Bra tells you all kinds of lies about me. I wanted to come over and clear my name."

"Bra _never_ talks about you! We only talked about you that one time and I was the one who suspected you!"

"Oh…well…that's good." He waited a long moment. "She _never_ talks about me?"

"Never."

"Oh." Todd looked out the room's tony window for a moment.

"Hey, can I ask you something personal? I mean," he said, fumbling for his words, "you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Sure," Goten said, preparing for the worst.

"What did you do to her?" Todd asked, sitting up straighter.

"Excuse me?"

"What did you do to her to make her hate you so much?" Todd repeated. "I mean… Marron told me you guys were really close in middle school. What happened?"

"I said no."

"What?"

"I said no to her."

"What did she ask you?"

"To be her boyfriend."

"What!" Todd asked, unbelieving. "Bra would _never_! She hates you!"

"Listen, you asked. A long time ago, when we first met, I told Bra I liked her but I didn't know she was dating someone. You know, it was middle school!" He said quickly, embarrassed. "Anyways, I asked her out and she said no and afterwards I found out she was dating someone else. Then I started dating Amy. She was awesome and we have a lot of fun together. Anyways, when Bra's boyfriend broke it off she came and asked me out."

"But you liked her," Todd said quickly, looking away. "Why did you say no after she broke it off with her boyfriend?" Goten's eyes flashed dangerously.

"That's not what I said. Bra told me no, that she didn't want to date me. She didn't come looking for me until after her boyfriend ditched her. I wasn't going to let her use me."

"That's not how it happened," Todd said quickly.

"Oh, it wasn't? Because now you're such an expert on it?"

"Look, I knew that guy that she was dating. He was really crushed because _she_ broke up with _him_. And Bra has told me that too she just…never said anything about why she broke up with him. She never said it was for someone else."

"Well, that's not the story she told me. She said that he'd gone off with someone else and-"

"That is completely untrue!" Todd said so loudly that a passing nurse in hallway looked into their room

"It doesn't even matter," Goten said, lowering his voice. "It was so long ago and she'll never forgive me because I chose Amy over her and they used to be best friends."

"Yeah back when Amy wasn't such a jerk."

"Hey back off," Goten said, clenching his teeth. "Bra was using _me_. She wouldn't break up with her boyfriend for me and whatever, I get that. She was being loyal, she loved him, whatever. But then when she was single, she expected me to just ditch Amy. I care about Amy and I still do, hell, I've been dating her for three years! Bra just took it to heart, I don't know why because it was _middle school_ but she's hated me ever since. I didn't start this hate war, she did."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, so I'd appreciate a little backing. It's not I killed a puppy or something, I just turned her down."

"Yeah, well, you know, girls…" Todd said cautiously. Goten laughed.

"Yeah," he said. "Girls…"

"Hey, it's almost seven. If you want to make it to school before first bell, you'd better get going."

Goten stuck out his hand. Todd shook it.

"You outta here soon?" Goten asked, pointing around to the tiny hospital room.

"Tomorrow."

"Then I will see you around."

"You know, I'd really like that." Todd said. Goten nodded and he left.

It was almost seven thirty and Bra was incredibly late but as she ran out to her car, she saw Marron waiting in hers. Bra climbed in. Marron jumped into explanation before Bra could even say hello.

"Trunks told me about you knowing. Sorry, you know, for yelling."

"Yeah, well I asked him and he said he didn't know anything," Bra told her getting in.

"Are you sure he wasn't lying?" Marron asked, hitting the gas.

"Look, he might be a jerk but he's a super Saiyan. If he'd really wanted Todd beaten up, he would have just done it himself. Plus, what reason would Goten have?"

"I don't know. It was Todd's theory. He just asked me not to say anything."

They drove the rest of the way with the radio blaring. But Bra wanted to talk to Marron seriously about Goten – he had kissed her, after all. If he claimed to hate her so much, he wouldn't have kissed her. She shook the old memories of him away. She shot a glance at Marron jamming to the music and tried to summon up the courage to tell her.

As they got out, they began to walk the familiar path from the parking lot to the school. As they got to the gate, someone was leaning up against it, waiting. It was Goten.

"Hey," he said in a would-be casual voice.

"What?" Marron asked, obnoxiously, sidestepping him.

"Not you," he shot at Marron. He turned to Bra. "I wanted to talk to you about our project. Alone." He added, eyeing Marron.

"Yeah, because projects are so secretive," Marron laughed.

"I'm going to be late," Bra said, even though there were ten minutes to the bell.

"Bra, wait," Goten said, but they were already walking away.

"What was that about?" Marron asked out of earshot.

"No idea," Bra said curtly.

"Is your project going bad? Me and James are almost done."

"Us too."

"Well then I wonder what's up with him."

"No idea." Marron looked over at Bra skeptically and the two went to find seats in homeroom.

That afternoon, Goten was waiting at the gate again. As they got closer, Marron pointed this out.

"Just listen to what he says," Marron suggested. "Maybe whatever he wants to tell you will let you off the hook for another meeting."

"Maybe not."

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Marron asked uncertainly as they came up to Goten.

"No, just go ahead. I'll fly home."

"Okay but don't blame me when your hair frizzes all up," Marron said laughing as she walked by Goten, flicking him off.

Goten took advantage of Marron's absence to close in immediately.

"Hey," he said, looking nervous.

"What?" She asked.

"Look, I don't know why you're so mad all of sudden but-"

"You have got to be kidding me," Bra said in a deadly whisper then she grabbed his arm and dragged him down the sidewalk until they were out of earshot of any other students.

"You don't know why I'm mad? Take a wild fucking guess!"

"You know what? It's this attitude of yours that really pisses me off!" He said, pulling his arm out of her grip. "I don't know why you hate me so much! _You_ were using _me_ for Christ's sake and you have the audacity to be mad at me?"

"Well if you are so pissed off at me why did you kiss me?" Bra shot. Goten flushed.

"We aren't talking about that! I'm talking about middle school!"

"Oh now you _want_ to talk? Well, you're three years too late," she said firmly, sidestepping him but he turned just as quickly, his own retort ready.

"Okay, then, let's talk about middle school and you can explain to me what the fuck your problem is! You were dating someone else!" Goten roared.

"And I broke up with him for you! But when I came and wanted to get together with you, you said no and started dating Amy Fischer, my best friend!"

"That's not how it happened!" Goten protested.

"Yes it is!"

"No, it's not!"

"Fine then," she spat. "Believe whatever you want!" And she turned on her heel and flew off.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thanks for all the recent reviews/favorites; as a writer, it spurs me to write faster/better when I get them, so it's appreciated. Also, I was looking at my Live Preview and I realized _none_ of my formatting has been working, so I apologize if you were having a hard time reading the story; thanks for sticking with it anyways. This one will be better!

* * *

It was Tuesday night and Goten and Bra were supposed to be having another meeting but neither one of them were going. Goten was walking around downtown, blowing off steam. Bra was at home, locked up in her room.

"Bra, open this door!" Trunks yelled. "I need to move your car and your spare keys are gone." Bra opened the door and said seriously, "If I give you my car keys, will you teach me how to be a super Saiyan?"

"What?" He asked dumbfounded. "Where did _that_ come from?"

"I want to…beat someone up," she said firmly. Trunks laughed.

"Oh yeah? And you need to be a super Saiyan to do it? Hmm, we wouldn't be talking about Goten would we?"

"Not at all," she said with a straight face.

"Well if you aren't going to tell the truth, I'll move your car with my bare hands and I promise you, it won't be pretty."

"Fine! I want to beat up Goten . What's it to you," she said, throwing the keys at him.

"Whatever, see you later," he said, turning and going down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he shouted, as an afterthought, "The answer is still no."

"What? I gave you the keys!" Bra said indignantly.

"But I never agreed. Look, Goten and me aren't exactly best pals anymore but I'm not teaching you to be a super Saiyan just so you can beat him up."

"It's not really all about that. I've always wanted to do it," she made up quickly. Trunks seemed to read right through that.

"No," and then he disappeared out the front door.

* * *

Meanwhile downtown, Goten was wandering around aimlessly. He'd taken off when Gohan had arrived with Videl and Pan. He just didn't think he could stand being in a room when Pan was rambling on about how awesome Bra was. So, he'd taken to the street. There weren't many people out, not since there had been recent gang activity in these parts.

He didn't really know where he was going but subconsciously he knew he wanted to see Amy. She always came downtown Tuesday nights to shop since it was bargain day. He knew she wouldn't be around but he didn't feel like calling her either. He kind of just wanted to bump into her. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been shopping with her. They'd used to go together every week. Lately, he'd been too stressed to care much about his look and had just been strolling around in his torn old jeans. Anyways, Amy always made him feel better.

Amy's favorite store was down on Third Street but he found his feet around knew the way there without his mind, as it was replaying his conversation that morning with Todd, trying to figure out if he'd been telling the truth. Todd certainly didn't look like a guy who'd lie.

As he got closer to Third Street, he started to notice there were a lot more people down this street and not just people, thugs. He'd just walked into a gang.

"What're you doing down here punk?" One guy asked him with a huge metal bar pierced into his lower lip.

"Just walking," Goten said politely, sidestepping him, and continuing on.

"Well, you ain't just walking down here. Get lost."

"All right, I'll just get lost down this way," he said, walking past the guy again.

"Why you little-" The guy lunged for Goten but Goten avoided him easily and punched him in the back of the head. The guy fell limply to the ground.

"Any other takers?" He asked to a few others lounging the shadows, but there did seem to be a lot of takers as about twenty other guys were stirring and surrounding him. Goten smiled. A fight would be much better to blow off steam than just walking around.

"Say your prayers," said one, while another chided, "Don't cry for your mommy or we'll kill her too."

"Bring it on," Goten yelled, thumbing his nose.

"Wait a second!" Yelled a voice. It was Amy. She was running over, looking confused.

"What's going on here?" She demanded.

"Amy? Don't get involved, just get behind me," he said protectively.

"What? Why? They'll play nice, won't you boys?" She said, stepping forward toward them and laughing. The thugs immediately took a step back from her. What was going on?

"Amy, you - we should get out of here. I don't want you down here with all these gangs hanging around down here." But Goten had a feeling they weren't going to let him and Amy just leave peacefully.

"Weren't you listening?" Amy snapped. "I can take care of myself."

"Let's just go," he said, taking her hand and trying to pull her out of the alley. The thugs were still looking at Amy like they were afraid.

"You go," she said, "I've got some stuff to do."

"What?" he asked, outraged. "I'm not leaving you down an alley full of thugs!"

"You're starting to annoy me," she said and then she turned to the thugs, "Do whatever you want with him."

They converged on Goten but the twenty of them were no match. He laughed, cracked his neck, and started. He took the guy in front of him out with one punch to the face. He could feel another sneaking up from behind him but dealt with him using a swift elbow to the nose. Two more had run up to get him from the front but he was too fast, dropping the first with an elbow to the neck and the second with a shuto to the neck. He continued so quickly like this, it had barely been ten seconds since the first punch but as the last man fell, it left Goten and Amy standing quietly amidst the unconscious bodies of the gang. Goten hadn't even broke a sweat.

"Goten, let's go," she said sweetly.

"I don't think so. Tell me the truth. You were a part of this gang, weren't you?"

"A part of...are you kidding me? Don't tell me you are that stupid. I would never be part of a gang!" She said but as she said it, one of the men in the alleyway sat up, dazed and confused, blood leaking from his nose and said audibly, "Lady A, we got that kid from Orange Star! Sent him to the hospital with broken ribs and all and -" But before he could finish, Goten kicked him hard in the mouth and he fell backwards.

"Lady A, huh? You're the head of that gang who's been stealing from these stores?"

"Goten, this isn't what it looks like!"

"Then what is it? _And _you had Todd beaten up? What kind of game are you playing Amy? You know what - spare me you're stories. I'm taking you to the police."

"But Goten, I'm your girlfriend!"

"Not anymore."


	12. Chapter 12

It was Wednesday morning at the hospital and they were releasing Todd. Marron and Bra were meeting up with Beth and James there. They were all going for Todd's release. When they got to his room, they could hear someone else inside.

Marron checked her phone. A text from James. "James and Beth are running late and can't make it." She pushed open the door.

Goten was sitting on the edge of the bed, talking with Todd.

"What is going on?" Marron demanded. "Why is _he_ here?"

"Because I asked him to come."

"What? Why?" Bra asked, coming to stand by Todd.

"Because he found out who ordered that attack on me _and_ apprehended them," Todd said, practically beaming.

"Who was it?" They asked together.

"It was Lady A, that gangster who has been robbing those stores downtown. Turns out she was actually very young, high school age, and she's been send to ALF." ALF was slang for the Alternative Learning Facility, the place for kids who did badly in public schools like Orange Star.

"Wow. Anyone we know?" Marron asked, looked Goten up and down as if deciding to change her mind about him.

"Nope," Todd said, winking quickly at Goten.

"Alright, time to get you home." Goten said, helping Todd up. "I was going to take him, if that's alright with you."

"We were going to take him too," Marron said, shouldering his other arm.

"Yeah, Marron why don't you take me," Todd said.

"I'll come too," Bra said hurriedly, trying to follow them out.

"No, Bra, will you do me a favor? And Goten, you too?" Todd asked. "I need my stuff taken to my house. Could you guys get it for me?"

"Of course," Bra said nodding and Marron helped Todd out the door.

Bra didn't say anything but started taking down get-well cards off the walls. Goten was popping balloons when he stopped.

"I still didn't redeem myself to you did I? Not even when I helped out your friend."

"You didn't do it for him, did you? You did it because you _can_," she said crossly, stuffing the cards in a bag with the stuffed animals.

"You're wrong. I came here to ask him why he thought I would do such a thing but we talked. Then, I accidentally stumbled on Am - I mean - Lady A yesterday and I couldn't just let her get away. She happened to mention something about beating up kids at Orange Star."

"You accidentally stumbled on Lady A?" She asked skeptically.

"Well, I was looking for Amy but I found someone else instead."

"Oh yes, dear _Amy_," Bra chided. Goten looked away.

"We broke up." Bra looked up quickly. Goten was serious.

"I…I didn't know," she said in her defense.

"That's why I was looking for her. I was breaking up with her. I don't think I really ever knew her." Bra said nothing. "She's transferring schools. I found out last night. Bad timing, I guess."

Bra finished packing all of Todd's things up and put the bag over her shoulder.

"Well, I should really get these things to Todd," she said, walking out the door.

"Bra, wait," Goten said, coming into the hallway after her. "Let me give you a ride. Todd asked me to come over too."

"I can fly." He stepped in front of her.

"I know you can fly but I am asking you for a second chance."

"How about we deal? I'll accept a ride if you leave me alone from now on."

"No deal. Tell me what I can do to earn a second chance."

"Prove to me you aren't really the asshole I think you are," Bra said, her chin raised in defiance.

"Well, then if I am going to prove that you, I'll have to start hanging out with you regularly," he said with a grin.

"Oh get lost," she said, sidestepping him but he was too fast, he grabbed her arm and spun her around but she was ready for him. She stepped very close to him, her eyes narrowed in fury.

"You know, I used to pray that you would die in one of those tournaments and that no ambulances could be spared at that moment. I prayed you would bleed and bleed until you had no blood left. If you touch me again, I'll make sure that becomes a reality." She shook him off and walked to the elevator landing, where he caught up with her.

"Look Bra, I've tried to make things better between us!" He said exasperated. "What else do you want?"

"I want you to get off your high horse! Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can get whatever you want whenever you want it."

"I don't know why you don't think I know that!"

"You've dated the prettiest girl in school, you wear the best clothes, that convertible of yours, your Saiyan strength-"

"When have I ever bragged about being strong?" He asked bewildered. When she didn't reply, he continued swiftly. "Never. Don't you think if I wanted to brag, I would be quarterback for the football team? But I'm not, I play back up and I warm the bench. That's not exactly fair is it? I'm half Saiyan but it wouldn't be fair if I used all my power either so I do my share, alright? And my convertible was a present. Gohan got it for me. He and Videl saved up especially because Gohan wanted a car when he turned sixteen but my mom couldn't afford it. And I work to get these clothes and why _on earth_ do you care so much that I dated Amy?"

"Never mind," she said huffily as the elevator opened. He followed her in.

"No, I won't 'never mind' Bra. What the hell is your problem?"

"You are, don't you get it? Just leave me alone."

"No," he said, stepping up to her. "No, I won't just leave you alone. Not anymore." He reached out his hand to touch her cheek but the elevator opened and she ran out, leaving him alone to ride to Todd's house.

That next week Bra planned her trips to Todd's with extreme caution. He was doing a lot better but he still needed some care. Tara would have had Bra stay all day on the weekends but she couldn't risk being caught there if Goten showed up, who was there almost as much as she was. He and Todd seemed to be getting on really well, not that Todd said anything. He seemed to be enjoying Goten's company and therefore scared to say anything that might make either one of them leave.

On Thursday afternoon, Bra was making dinner for Todd and Tara after school when Tara ran into the kitchen.

"Todd said you should know that Goten is coming over. He just texted him."

"Well, good thing I am just about finished then, huh?"

"You're leaving already?" Tara said, pouting. "But you haven't even been her for an hour!"

"Listen, I'll hang out with you all day Saturday. We'll go down to that park you really like and we'll hit the movies because that one you want to see is coming out. How does that sound?"

"Awesome! Get out of here!" She laughed, helping Bra put the dishes in the sink. "I'll do them."

Bra ran in and kissed Todd on the head. He smiled but refrained from saying anything. She was already gone by the time Goten pulled into the driveway.

He ran up the stairs to their front door and knocked. Someone yelled, "Come in." He came in to Todd and Tara eating.

"Join us," Todd said.

"Sure. Do you need anything before I sit down?" Goten asked, pulling a cup out of the cabinet and filling it with ice.

"Nope, I think we're good."

"Cool. What're we having?"

"Pesto penne, my favorite," Tara announced. Goten filled up his plate and took a bite.

"This is great! You made this?" He asked Tara.

"No, Bra did but she left a little while ago."

"Ah…I see." He put his fork down. "I won't come over anymore if it's going to be like this. I don't mean to cause trouble. I really am just trying to help."

"Don't be ridiculous. Bra made her own choice. You did not force her to leave. If the two of you just iron out your differences once and for all, you could come over at the same time. Besides, I'll be good as new in just a few weeks and then I won't need all this looking after."

"I know I just…I've tried to make things right with her. She just won't hear it."

"You should try telling her you're sorry!" Tara said loudly with a mouthful of penne pasta.

"I did tell her I was sorry."

"Did you mean it?" Tara asked.

"Of course I did!" Goten said indignantly.

"Well, there's always tomorrow." Todd said, taking another bite.

"I guess."

But Goten didn't wait till tomorrow. After he had helped Todd clean up, he drove straight over to her house. Taking a deep breath he didn't think would help, he stepped up to the doorway and pushed the doorbell. He heard footsteps and the door opened.

"Oh hey Goten," said Trunks, a little confused.

"Hey, is Bra around?"

"Are you guys still working on that project?"

"Well, yeah but I just wanted to talk to her. Is that alright?"

"From what I hear, you're not a close friend of hers," Trunks said crossing his arms and blocking the doorway.

"I just want to talk to her." Goten looked sincere. Trunks nodded.

"Okay then. You can go try her room but she's always locked up in there. Good luck getting in," Trunks said, pointing. "Up the stairs, second door on your left."

"Thanks." He walked up the stairs and knocked on the second door. There was no answer.

"Bra, it's Goten." He sighed and leaned his back against the door. "Look, I know you probably don't want to hear anything from me right now but just hear me out." He slid down against the door. "I don't know how things got so messed up. We didn't communicate very well in middle school and it was never anything against you. I really did like Amy. And I didn't know you broke up with your boyfriend for me and anyways, that was forever ago. I'm just here because I really like Todd and you probably think I'm being an ass for hanging out with him so much but he's a really great guy. I'm actually mad at myself for not hanging around him sooner. And I'm going to keep hanging around him, whether you like it or not. And I don't care what you think about me or my convertible or my clothes or whatever because, well, I am who I am."

He stopped short. Could he really apologize to his enemy since the eighth grade? He thought about it for a second longer and decided he could.

"I'm guess I'm just sorry, for whatever happened between us as kids. And I just wanted to tell you that I never meant to hurt you." He sat there for a few minutes but there was no reply. He was thinking about getting up to go when the door opened and he tumbled backwards. He stood up slowly. They were face to face.

"There see? Not such an asshole," he said. She nodded, shuffling her foot. "So, are we cool?"

"I don't know if cool is the right word," Bra said slowly.

"Okay, so we still need some work, huh?"

"Yeah. But…. you have your second chance, so are you happy now?"

"Very."


	13. Chapter 13

Those next few months were rough for all of them, adjusting to new friends, midterm grades received, and finals looming around the corner with the end of the school year just beyond it.

It took four months for Todd to heal completely and be back to his old self, skateboarding everywhere. Goten was the only marring factor in the picture that hadn't been there before, often seen riding to school with Todd on his own skateboard after Todd had been showing him how to ride it. Goten was a natural, of course, at anything physical and mastered it very quickly.

As strange as it was for Goten and Todd to be seen hanging out, the two had actually become close friends during Todd's recovery. This wasn't the only change in Goten that was witnessed those months. He kept his convertible, which he still loved, but his clothing and attitude became much more subtle. He was most often seen in worn out jeans and a t-shirt laughing when just months ago, he would have been seen wearing brand name clothes and a scowl.

It was during this time that Goten became the favorite for one of the yearbook superlatives, most favored to win Best Personality. It was common to see him still practicing for football as the backup quarterback but also at the skate park or even aiding for teacher's during his free period. He had definitely reached out to the student body and become active, especially as he was running for next year's treasurer of the Student Council, to which he was later elected.

Perhaps it was these changes that softened the girl's hearts of Orange Star high to the great guy that Goten was, but now he was receiving quite a lot of attention from them. This put any small desire Bra may have had to right things, on the back burner even though Goten had been delicately hinting at the prospect of a date, which Bra had flat out refused.

But Bra also became different in those months, toning her gothic look down a notch and not wearing so much black makeup. She also became softer to Goten's presence as the months went by, although she would never have admitted it.

After the school year let out, they were all working, waiting for grades, and bored, as most high school juniors are when they don't see their friends every day.

It was Sunday afternoon, two weeks after school let out that Bra was sitting on the couch in the living room, scanning the yearbook for the hundredth time and eating potato chips.

Trunks came in the front door after working. He looked exhausted.

"Lucky punk," he said to Bra as he collapsed next to her. "You're exactly where I left you this morning."

"I start work tomorrow," she countered, flipping a page quickly so that it wasn't sitting on Goten's Best Personality page. Trunks eyed the yearbook.

"You know," he said slowly. "If you did like Goten, that would be alright."

"What?" She asked, sitting up straight and shutting the book with a snap. "What are you talking about?" He gave her a strange look.

"I mean, I know he's been hanging out with you and your friends, and it's okay to be friends with him despite what you've been through. That's all I meant," he said hastily, getting up and crossing to the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water and chugged half of it. Bra was still sitting frozen on the couch. "But you like him another way, don't you?"

Bra jerked out of a Goten-free daydream. "Now you're guessing."

"Then why so touchy?"

"I'm not touchy!" He raised his eyebrows and plopped back down next to her.

"Oookay," he said, taking another swig of his water. "Whatever. Oh hey, remember that girl you used to hang out with in middle school?"

"Amy?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, what about her?" Bra asked quickly.

"Didn't you hear? She was running a gang over downtown, terrorizing shops. She got sent to ALF."

"She _what_?"

"Yeah apparently she was going under the alias of Lady A or something like that. You didn't hear about it?"

"No, I didn't," she said stiffly.

"Well, anyways," he continued. "You should give Goten a chance."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Bra said defiantly, already stretched to the breaking point.

"Ha!" He laughed, draining the rest of the bottle and tossing it aside. "I don't? I've been out with more girls than secrets Marron has let slip so don't tell me I don't know girls. Look, I'm not telling you to fall for the guy but you don't always have to be so harsh when all he did was break your middle-school heart."

Bra stood up quickly, grabbing the yearbook off the couch and heading for the stairs.

"Bra, come on!" Trunks complained. Bra paused at the foot of the stairs, waiting for his defense. "All I was saying was that you should give him a little bit of a chance. Whatever happened between you two was so long ago. I mean, I can't even remember what he did to you."

"That's not saying much as once you forgot your own cousin's name," she shot back from the bottom step.

"I hadn't seen him in twelve years!" Trunks protested, standing up. "He lives all the way up in Northern Landing. I hadn't seen him since I was eight and hey!" he shouted, as Bra took two steps up the stairs. "You can't just ignore what I'm saying."

"Watch me," she said, climbing the stairs but Trunks was persistent and he followed her up to a get a door slammed in his face. Trunks made a face from behind the door, just before he broke it down.

"Trunks!" Bra screamed, running over to him in anger, amidst the shattered wood.

"Come on," he said coolly. "Let's talk."

"Talk?" She screeched, taking another step into his face. "You pushed this way past talking!" She threw a punch. Trunks didn't move and her knuckles hit him hard in the chest but he didn't flinch.

"Yes, talk. Talking is good."

"Then why _the hell_ did you break my door down?"

"Because I wanted you to listen and weren't going to."

"This is why I need to become a super Saiyan! This is why, right here! You and Goten – you think you're so hot because you're strong and that means you can just bully whoever you fucking want! Well, this ends now!" Trunks looked back, all laughter gone from his face now. He braced himself. She jumped towards him and threw a real punch, a hard one, straight to his chin. He moved this time, fast enough to dodge it, because he knew she was serious but after the first punch, she didn't stop but proceeded to attack him with all her might.

After ten solid minutes of Bra's fruitless attacks all over her room, she took a step back from Trunks who looked as calm as if he'd just come from a spa. She was winded, breathing hard through her nose when her fury peaked as she stood there watching him calmness and she took another step back and screamed, absolutely enraged.

It was at this point when Trunks said something Bra did not understand. "You're close. Now focus!" He was serious but she didn't stop to ask questions.

"DON'T MOCK ME!" She screamed. He looked confused as she launched another attack on him. Something clicked into place in Trunks' brain and a crude sneer came across his face.

"You just want everyone to feel sorry for you! Oh, poor Bra got rejected in the second fucking grade! Grow up Bra! Goten never wanted you and he doesn't want you now! Even Marron said-"

But his words were eclipsed by a crackle of electricity and the light flickered on and off several times. Then there was a scream from downstairs but Bra was screaming too, louder and louder, a vein in her temple was throbbing as she threw her head back and let out an almighty roar, painful and angry. The door flew open and their mother barged in, her hands over her mouth.

But it was too late; Trunks and Bulma were blown backwards by the force of energy Bra was emanating with one last outburst of enormous power.

It was then that Bra's vision turned a shade blue, then normal, then blue then she felt her anger enclose around her veins and explode in release.

The debris from the explosion settled and Bra was standing in the middle of the wreckage, completely unharmed, and pulsating a crackle of yellow electricity. Her hair had turned a brilliant shade of gold and it had grown longer, settling rigidly down her back. Trunks and Bulma were climbing out of the wreckage when Bulma saw her daughter and letting out a gasp. Trunks was smiling, completely unsurprised.

"Bra!" She wailed, throwing herself forward around her daughter's golden neck. "Are you alright?" Bra nodded as she let go, her eyes still on Trunks. He took a step toward her, a scheming look in his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. He clenched his fists and let out a yell and transformed into a super Saiyan with ease.

"You ready to go, sister?" Trunks asked, the devious smile still on his lips as he rose into the air.

"You bet your ass, I am," Bra said, rising up after him.

"Trunks," Bulma said sternly. "Take her somewhere away from this house, do you hear me?" It was true but neither of them had noticed there was a gaping hole in the ceiling, where Bra had practically exploded. "I know your Saiyan blood isn't going to let you walk away from a fight - but fight and no broken bones, do you understand?" She sighed, looking at her house as her children nodded and flew out of the gaping hole to fight.

They both nodded. She disappeared back into the hallway, probably to call a roofer.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: This is the final chapter (or all I wrote back when I first wrote this). Sorry for the bad formatting, I don't know how to make it better. Thanks for sticking with me through the whole fic – love you guys! ~Laurynn

"And you knew?" Bra asked. It was dusk and the sun had just slipped beneath the horizon and Bra and Trunks were lying in an abandoned field on the outskirts of town, both of them glowing gold.

"Well, I knew you were close. Sometimes, it just takes something to push you over the edge. You and me, we have fighting in our blood. Once it starts, it's hard to stop," he said, cuffing her proudly on the head. She couldn't help but smile.

"I don't want to let it go," she said fondly, touching her glowing skin.

"It's not gone forever. Now that you know how to do it, it will come easier next time. It's hardest the first time but you'll get the hang of it."

Trunks stopped but looked over at his sister. "You know," he said, glancing seriously over at her. "The first time I showed dad I could be a super Saiyan he punched me in the face."

"What?" Bra asked, laughing too loudly.

"Yeah…he said he would take me to the park if I could land a punch in his face and I did it, man I was stupid, and he punched me so hard I had a mark for a week." Bra laughed again but it was nervous laughter. Trunks looked over; Bra was biting her lip. He took her hand in his own and held it.

"Is…is that why you did this? Because dad's not around to show me?"

"No, I did it because you asked me to, remember?" She nodded. "But there is also a lot of responsibility that comes along with being a super Saiyan that you must not forget. It falls to us to defend the weak whenever we can and we must never abuse the power we have."

"I understand."

"Do you?" He asked, squeezing her hand. "Didn't you want to be a super Saiyan to beat someone up? Didn't you think I was abusing my power earlier?" She squeezed his hand back.

"It was easy to say that because you were stronger than me and well, you never did take it easy on me," Bra admitted. She thought of her accusations against Goten and felt her face flush. Trunks didn't notice.

"Yeah, well that's one thing dad did happen to teach me when he was around, to train hard and never let up."

"I see that," she said laughing sincerely.

"Yeah, I guess I-" But at that moment, Trunks released her hand and was standing in an instant.

"What?" Bra asked, jumping up after him.

"You tell me. Listen, feel. Use your power and tell me what," he said; his voice was suddenly on edge.

"Something is coming. Something very powerful…"

"Someone," he corrected.

"But who is stronger than us?"

"That energy is not stronger than either one of us as super Saiyans. Feel it. It is a similar energy."

"What do you mean?"

"It's Saiyan power."

"A Saiyan coming toward us?" She asked blankly.

"Two and they're coming very quickly," Trunks said. "If you want to hide your new power, you should do it now, although they probably already know."

"If it's other Saiyans, I don't mind. Do you know who it is just by their energy?"

"Yes, because I've trained with them before but you won't be able to do that for a while. And since I don't feel like getting killed in my sleep tonight, I'll tell you. It's Gohan and Goten."

"What?" Bra asked, turning to face him. "What are they coming here for?"

"I don't know. What are we doing here?"

"What? We're talking." He shrugged.

"Maybe they are too. Are you…are you going to power down?"

"Yes, I will." She said, closing her eyes and letting her energy build up free and returning to her normal state. When she opened them, Trunks was normal too. They sat back down in silence and waited until Gohan and Goten flew into their vision and dropped to the ground in front of them. Goten caught Bra's eyes but quickly looked away, blushing, which was unusual. They stood.

"Good evening Trunks, Bra," Gohan said happily, shaking Trunk's hand. Goten nodded at Trunks, who nodded back.

"Long time no see," Trunks said genuinely. "How are Videl and Pan?"

"They are doing great."

"And Chichi?"

"As stubborn as ever. And how is Bulma?"

"She's doing fine as well."

"Splendid. And how are the two of you?" Gohan asked casually but Trunks felt that there was something wrong.

"Why do you ask?" Trunks asked. Gohan and Goten exchanged quick looks.

"We felt a large and quite unfamiliar power level from this direction. We came to check it out. We wanted to make sure everything was okay. We didn't know that you were here until we started out. We decided to come check things out anyway. Do you need any assistance?"

"No, no, we're both fine," Trunks said, looking back at Bra whose eyes were glued to the ground.

"Oh, I see. Well, in any case, it seems to have dissipated. Do you happen to know what it was? It was very powerful."

"We both know. Bra," Trunks asked, looking back at her. "Would you like to tell them where the power was coming from?" Bra shook her head. Trunks sighed. "Bra has made the transformation to super Saiyan this evening." Gohan smiled but Goten looked stunned.

"Well, may I be the first offer my congratulations!" Gohan said beaming.

"Thank you," Bra said meekly, shuffling her feet.

"Have you been working on this for some time?"

"No," said Trunks. "That was what was remarkable about it. She just snapped and transformed. Mom's not too happy though, as she did in _inside_ the house."

"No, what mother would be?" Gohan said laughing earnestly. "I'll bet she was mad!"

"Actually, she kicked us out!" Trunks said as he and Bra both burst out laughing, which Gohan and Goten both joined in.

After talking for some time, Gohan asked Bra if she would mind if he had a private word with Trunks and when she said no, the two of them flew off a little ways to talk, leaving Bra and Goten very alone.

"Congrats," he said, taking a step closer.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly.

"Bummer about your house though," he said conversationally.

"Yeah," she said stiffly.

"Well, I guess that you could-"

"Stop," she said suddenly, taking a step back and holding up her hand. "Stop acting like everything is okay between us."

"Look, I've tried to make things better. You said you were giving me a second chance but you never really accepted my apology."

"Well, you lied to me!" she burst out.

"Well, you lied to _me_!"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, bewildered.

"You told me that your boyfriend broke up with you back then." Bra was taken aback.

"What makes you think otherwise?" But Bra already knew the answer.

"I talked to him," Goten said. Bra looked down. She knew that Todd would've said something eventually.

"I thought it might come up when you were over there. I was wondering if your friendship might fall apart if either of you figured it out. And it took me a long time to make things right with him, so if you threaten my relationship with him, I'll kill you."

"Ah, super Saiyan fighting words. I love a good fight," he said laughing. "Now, tell me exactly what happened back then."

"I told Todd that I didn't want to see him anymore. I didn't give him any good reasons. He thought there was someone else, which was exactly true but when I didn't start dating anyone he thought I'd made it up and what could I say? I didn't go out without anyone for a year or so after that. He was crushed. He thought I lied to get rid of him. I tried to tell him that it wasn't like that but he didn't believe me. But then we both were dating around. It was clear after that that we were just meant to be friends anyways. And we've maintained our friendship so if you-"

"I get it. You'll kill me. And for the record, I didn't know you were going to break up with him for me. I'd already said yes to Amy when you asked me. I wasn't just going to drop her."

"Well, you should've. She was just doing it because you were popular. And you lied about her. She was that gangster." Goten swallowed hard, which was as good as a confession.

"I…I had no idea. I think you were her original target after you guys fought at the beginning of the year. She thought she'd get at you through Todd, which worked in a way. I…I handed her in myself. I had no idea she would've done something like that."

They stood silent for a long moment.

"So, want to train?" Goten asked tentatively. "None of the guys on the football team will train with me anymore." Bra smiled; a real smile.

"I think that sounds like a plan," she said, stretching out her hand, which he shook with a smile. "Only not tonight. I think I'd probably better get going soon. Mom's going to make us regret tearing up the house." They both laughed.

"Oh, did you get your grades in the mail yet?"

"No, did you?" She asked surprised.

"Yeah, I got them this morning."

"What! What did we get on our project?" She asked but he sighed heavily.

"I don't know how to tell you this…" He said sadly.

"Goten, what did we get?" She asked, stepping forward and grabbing his lapel but he broke free.

"You have to catch me for it," he laughed, bursting into super Saiyan form and taking off.

"Oh it's on," she said following suit and chasing after him, laughing the whole way.


End file.
